Gaming machine, gaming information authentication and acquisition device, and gaming information acquisition device

ABSTRACT

A gaming machine includes a gaming operation execution device, a loading device and a processing device. The gaming operation execution device executes gaming operations. The loading device includes a connector for connecting a storage medium, a first program memory part for storing a first authentication program, a second program memory part for storing a second authentication program, and a first processor for authenticating the first authentication program with the second authentication program. The processing device includes a memory, a reading unit for reading out the gaming information from the storage medium and for reading out the first authentication program authenticated by the first processor, a second processor for authenticating the gaming information with the authenticated first authentication program, a writing unit for writing the authenticated gaming information to the memory, and an operation control unit for controlling the gaming operation execution device.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is based upon and claims the benefit of priority fromthe prior Japanese Patent Application No. 2005-121397, filed on Apr. 19,2005; the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.

This application is related to the co-pending U.S. patent applicationentitled “GAMING MACHINE, GAMING INFORMATION AUTHENTICATION ANDACQUISITION DEVICE, AND GAMING INFORMATION ACQUISITION DEVICE” referredto as the Japanese Patent Application No. 2005-121389, filed in Japan onApr. 19, 2005. The co-pending application including the specification,drawing and claims are expressly incorporated herein by reference in itsentirety.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a gaming machine, a gaming informationauthenticating and loading device, and a loading device for loadinggaming information, whereby gaming information recorded on a portablestorage medium can be authenticated.

2. Related Background of the Invention

In the prior art, various types of gaming machines are known, such asgaming machines known as video game machines, slot machines, Pachislomachines, Pachinko machines, or the like, which provide image-basedgaming by using images displayed on image display means. In recentyears, in this type of gaming machine, it has become possible to supplya program (hereinafter, called a “gaming program”) used to control theoperations required for playing the game, such as controlling theprogress of the game, controlling the display of images, and judgingwhether or not a prize has been won (a hit or miss judgment), andvarious types of game used for playing the game (hereinafter,collectively referred to as “gaming information”), by means of a storagemedium. For example, gaming information is stored in a small, portablestorage medium, such as a compact flash memory (registered trademark;also called “CF card”), and the gaming machine has a component whichallows attachment and detachment of the storage medium, gaminginformation being supplied to the gaming machine by means of thisstorage medium.

Nevertheless, since the storage medium which stores the gaminginformation is detachable with respect to the gaming machine, then thereis a risk that the medium could be removed from the gaming machine andused to perform illegal actions, such as duplicating or manipulating thegaming information stored on the medium. Therefore, in cases wheregaming information is supplied by means of a storage medium, it isnecessary to prevent illegal actions relating to the storage mediumwhich stores the gaming information.

With regard to this point, for example, Japanese Patent ApplicationPublication No. 2001-344096 discloses a method in which, when a storagemedium is attached to a game device, storing identification informationthat is unique to the game device is stored on the storage medium fromthe game device, and identification information that is unique to thegaming information is also stored on the game device from the storagemedium. Then, according to the method, the software stored on thestorage medium is executed if the two sets of the identificationinformation are the same in the game device and the storage medium.

Moreover, Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2002-341957discloses technology relating to the startup of a computer when aremovable unit is attached to a computer main body, whereby the contentof a user code stored in the removable unit is compared with the contentof a unit code stored in the computer main body, and permission to startup the system is decided according to whether or not the respectivecontents are matching.

Furthermore, Japanese Patent Application Publication No. Hei. 8-241194discloses a video game system in which a security check is performedrepeatedly during the progress of a game, in order to compare a securitycode set in an information processing device, with an accumulationdevice (storage medium) which stores a game program and a security code.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

However, in the conventional examples described in the aforementionedpublications, there is a problem in that only the storage medium itselfis authenticated, whereas authentication of the actual gaminginformation is not performed, in other words, it is not checked andverified that the gaming information stored on the storage medium hasnot been manipulated in some way.

In other words, the technology described in Japanese Patent ApplicationPublication No. 2001-344096 simply makes it possible to prevent illegalactions of duplicating the gaming information stored on the storagemedium, but it does not make it possible to prevent manipulation of theactual gaming information. Furthermore, in the technology described inJapanese Patent Application Publication No. 2002-341957, althoughauthentication is carried out in respect of the removable unit itself,the data stored in the unit is not authenticated, and therefore, thistechnology does not make it possible to prevent manipulation of the datastored in the unit. Moreover, in the video game system described inJapanese Patent Application Publication No. Hei. 8-241194, althoughtransfer to and execution of illegal software after the security checkis prevented, it is not possible to prevent manipulation of the datastored on the recording medium.

Therefore, the present invention is devised in order to resolve theaforementioned problems, an object thereof being to provide a gamingmachine, a gaming information authenticating and loading device, and aloading device for loading gaming information, whereby the gaminginformation stored on a storage medium can be authenticated.

According to the present invention, a gaming machine comprising: agaming operation execution device executing gaming operations forplaying a game; a loading device including a connector for connecting astorage medium which stores gaming information to be used in playing thegame, a first program memory part for storing a first authenticationprogram for authenticating the gaming information stored in the storagemedium connected to the connector, a second program memory part forstoring a second authentication program for authenticating the firstauthentication program stored in the first program memory part, and afirst processor for authenticating the first authentication program withthe second authentication program stored in the second program memorypart; and a processing device connected to the loading device, includinga readable and writable memory, a reading unit for reading out thegaming information from the storage medium connected to the connector ofthe loading device and for reading out the first authentication programauthenticated by the first processor from the first program memory part,a second processor for authenticating the gaming information read out bythe reading unit with the first authentication program read out by thereading unit, a writing unit for writing the gaming informationauthenticated by the second processor to the readable and writablememory, and an operation control unit for controlling the gamingoperation execution device in accordance with the gaming informationwritten to the readable and writable memory by the writing unit.

In this gaming machine, since the loading device is connected to theprocessing device, by connecting a storage medium storing gaminginformation to the connector of the loading device, it is possible toload the gaming information stored in the storage medium and to storethe information in the memory of the processing device. Furthermore,since the first authentication program for authenticating the gaminginformation is stored in the program memory part of the loading device,this loading process is carried out after the second processor hasperformed authentication processing with the first authenticationprogram. Moreover, since the first authentication program can beauthenticated by the first processor with the second authenticationprogram, it is possible to authenticate the gaming information stored onthe storage medium to a higher degree of reliability.

Moreover, the first processor of the loading device may send anauthentication completion signal to the reading unit of the processingdevice when completing authentication of the first authenticationprogram, and the reading unit may suspend readout of the firstauthentication program until receiving the authentication completionsignal from the first processor. In this case, it is possible reliablyto avoid a situation where the reading unit reads out the firstauthentication program before the authentication processing of the firstauthentication program by the first processor has been completed.

Furthermore, the reading unit may perform readout of the firstauthentication program after detecting completion of authentication ofthe first authentication program by the first processor. In this case,it is possible reliably to avoid situations in which the reading unitreads out the first authentication program before the authenticationprocessing of the first authentication program by the first processorhas been completed.

According to the present invention, a gaming information authenticatingand loading device comprising: a loading device including a connectorfor connecting a storage medium which stores gaming information to beused in playing the game, a first program memory part for storing afirst authentication program for authenticating the gaming informationstored in the storage medium connected to the connector, a secondprogram memory part for storing a second authentication program forauthenticating the first authentication program stored in the firstprogram memory part, and a first processor for authenticating the firstauthentication program with the second authentication program stored inthe second program memory part; and a processing device connected to theloading device, including a readable and writable memory, a reading unitfor reading out the gaming information from the storage medium connectedto the connector of the loading device and for reading out the firstauthentication program authenticated by the first processor from thefirst program memory part, a second processor for authenticating thegaming information read out by the reading unit with the firstauthentication program read out by the reading unit, a writing unit forwriting the gaming information authenticated by the second processor tothe readable and writable memory.

In this gaming information authenticating and loading device, since theloading device is connected to the processing device, by connecting astorage medium storing gaming information to the connector of theloading device, it is possible to load the gaming information stored onthe storage medium and to store that information in the memory of theprocessing device. Furthermore, since the first authentication programfor authenticating the gaming information is stored in the programmemory part of the loading device, this loading process is carried outafter the second processor has performed authentication processing inaccordance with the first authentication program. Moreover, since thefirst authentication program is subjected to authentication processingin accordance with the second authentication program, by the firstprocessor, it is possible to authenticate the gaming information storedon the storage medium to a higher degree of reliability.

Moreover, the first processor of the loading device may send anauthentication completion signal to the reading unit of the processingdevice when completing authentication of the first authenticationprogram, and the reading unit may suspend readout of the firstauthentication program until receiving the authentication completionsignal from the first processor. In this case, it is possible reliablyto avoid a situation where the reading unit reads out the firstauthentication program before the authentication processing of the firstauthentication program by the first processor has been completed.

Furthermore, the reading unit may perform readout of the firstauthentication program after detecting completion of authentication ofthe first authentication program by the first processor. In this case,it is possible reliably to avoid situations where the reading unit readsout the first authentication program before the authenticationprocessing of the first authentication program by the first processorhas completed.

According to the present invention, a gaming information loading devicefor loading stored gaming information to be used in playing a game froma storage medium and for sending the gaming information into a connectedmotherboard, the gaming information loading device comprising: aconnector for connecting a storage medium which stores gaminginformation to be used in playing the game; a first program memory partfor storing a first authentication program for authenticating the gaminginformation stored in the storage medium connected to the connector; asecond program memory part for storing a second authentication programfor authenticating the first authentication program stored in the firstprogram memory part; and a first processor for authenticating the firstauthentication program with the second authentication program stored inthe second program memory part.

When this gaming information loading device is connected to themotherboard, if the gaming information stored in a storage mediumconnected to the connector is read out by the motherboard, it ispossible to carry out authentication processing for the gaminginformation with the first authentication program. Moreover, sinceauthentication processing can be carried for the first authenticationprogram by the first processor with the second authentication program,it is possible to authenticate the gaming information stored on thestorage medium, with a higher degree of reliability.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the general constitution of a gaminginformation authenticating and loading device according to an embodimentof the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a perspective diagram showing the general constitution of aslot machine, which is a gaming machine relating to an embodiment of theinvention;

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of the slot machine shown in FIG. 2,describing the internal constitution of same;

FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing the procedure of an authenticating andloading process for gaming information relating to the gaminginformation authenticating and loading device shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 5 is a chart showing the procedure of an authenticating and loadingprocess for gaming information performed by the gaming board andmotherboard shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing the procedure of an authenticating andloading process for gaming information according to an embodimentdifferent from the procedure shown in FIG. 4; and

FIG. 7 is a chart showing the procedure of an authenticating and loadingprocess for gaming information performed by the gaming board andmotherboard, which is different from the procedure shown in FIG. 5.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Below, an embodiment of the present invention will be described. Thesame reference numeral is used for the same constituent elements, andduplicated description thereof is omitted.

(General Constitution of Gaming Information Authenticating and LoadingDevice)

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the general constitution of a gaminginformation authenticating and loading device 1. The gaming informationauthenticating and loading device 1 has a gaming board 10 constituting aloading device according to the present invention, and a motherboard 20constituting a processing device according to the present invention. Thegaming information authenticating and loading device 1 is constituted byconnecting the gaming board 10 with the motherboard 20 by means of a PCIbus 31 and an IDE bus 32 constituting a signal transmission unit. Thisgaming information authenticating and loading device 1 carries out anauthenticating and loading process for authenticating and loading a gameprogram 30 a and game system program 30 b, which form the gaminginformation of the present invention and are stored on the memory card30.

The gaming board 10 comprises a CPU 17 and boot ROM 11 which aremutually connected by means of an internal bus 18, and a card slot 12corresponding to the memory 30. The gaming board 10 is a device whichloads a game program 30 a and a game system program 30 b, describedhereinafter, in the motherboard 20 from a memory card 30 constituting astorage medium according to the present invention.

The CPU 17 and the boot ROM 11 which are mutually connected by theinternal bus 18 are connected to the motherboard 20 by means of a PCIbus 31. The PCI bus 31 transmits signals between the motherboard 20 andthe gaming board 10, and the PCI bus 31 also supplies power from themotherboard 20 to the gaming board 10. The boot ROM 11 stores anauthentication program (first authentication program) 11 a, apreliminary authentication program (second authentication program) 11 b,which are described below, and a program (boot code), or the like, (notillustrated) for booting (starting up) the CPU 17 and the preliminaryauthentication program 11 b. This boot ROM 11 has the function of thefirst program memory part and the second program memory part of thepresent invention.

The authentication program 11 a states a procedure (authenticationprocedure) for authenticating the gaming information, in other words,checking and verifying that the gaming information, which is the objectof the authenticating and loading process, has not been manipulated.This authentication program 11 a forms a program for authenticating thegame program 30 a and the game system program 30 b supplied to a slotmachine 41 via the memory card 30. This authentication program 11 a mayalso be called a “manipulation checking program”, since theauthentication program 11 a checks whether the game program 30 a and thegame system program 30 b have not been manipulated.

On the other hand, the object of the authentication processing performedby the preliminary authentication program 11 b is the authenticationprogram 11 a itself. This preliminary authentication program 11 b statesa procedure (authentication procedure) for authenticating theauthentication program 11 a. In other words, the preliminaryauthentication program 11 b checks and verifies that the authenticationprogram 11 a has not been manipulated. Accordingly, the preliminaryauthentication program 11 b is a program for authenticating theauthentication program 11 a, which performs authentication of the gameprogram 30 a and the game system program 30 b.

The card slot 12 is connected to the motherboard 20 by means of an IDEbus 32. This card slot 12 is a slot (physical connection section) whichallows the memory card 30 to be connected in such a manner that that thegame program 30 a and the game system program 30 b stored thereon can beread out. The card slot 12 constitutes the connector of the presentinvention, into which the memory card 30 can be inserted.

The motherboard 20 is constituted by means of a commercially available,generic motherboard (a printed circuit board mounted with the basiccomponents of a personal computer). The motherboard 20 has, at least, aCPU (Central Processing Unit) 21, a ROM (Read Only Memory) 22, a RAM(Random Access Memory) 23, and an I/O port 24, as shown in FIG. 1. ThePCI bus 31 and IDE bus 32 described above are connected to this I/O port24.

The ROM 22 stores programs, such as the BIOS (Basic Input/Output System)22 a (standard BIOS on the motherboard 20) which is executed by the mainCPU 21, and permanent data. When this BIOS 22 a is executed by the mainCPU 21, then prescribed initialization processing of the peripheraldevice is carried out, and a process for reading the game program 30 aand the game system program 30 b stored in the memory card 30 via thegaming board 10 is started. A memory device, such as a flash memory, isused for this ROM 22, and it is possible to use a memory whose contentsare either rewritable or non-rewritable.

The data and the program used when the main CPU 21 is operating arestored in the RAM 23. The RAM 23 can store, at the least, anauthentication program 11 a read out via the gaming board 10, and thegame program 30 a and the game system program 30 b. Thus, the RAM 23constitutes the readable and writable memory of the present invention.

The memory card 30 is the storage medium according to the presentinvention which stores gaming information used in playing a game, and inthe present embodiment, a CF card is used. The game program 30 a and thegame system program 30 b forming the gaming information according to thepresent invention are stored in this memory card 30 (see FIG. 4). Thegame program 30 a and the game system program 30 b respectively formslot game programs in the present embodiment.

A power supply unit 39 is connected via a power supply cable 39 a to themotherboard 20 of the gaming information authenticating and loadingdevice 1. When this power supply unit 39 supplies power to themotherboard 20, then the main CPU 21 of the motherboard 20 is startedup, and substantially simultaneously with this, power is supplied to thegaming board 10 via the PCI bus 31, and the CPU 17 is started up.

(General Constitution of Slot Machine)

FIG. 2 is an oblique diagram showing the general constitution of theslot machine 41. The slot machine 41 is a gaming machine relating to thepresent embodiment of the invention. This slot machine 41 incorporatesthe gaming information authenticating and loading device 1 having theaforementioned constitution, and executes a gaming operation for playinga game, on the basis of a game program 30 a and a game system program 30b incorporated into this authenticating and loading device 1.

This slot machine 41 has display which displays gaming images used forgaming. The display shows a state where a plurality of (five) reelshaving a plurality of pictures are aligned, and the display shows avariable display image (reel image) exactly as if the respective reelsare scrolling. This slot machine 41 is a video slot machine thatexecutes a slot game in which pay-out is decided in accordance with thecombination of pictures at the time that the respective reels shown bythe display come to a halt (the reels shown by the image may also becalled “game reels”).

The slot machine 41 has a frame 42, and an upper side image displaypanel 43 and a lower side image display panel 44 are provided on thefront side of this frame 42. The upper side image display panel 43 isconstituted by a liquid crystal display device, and displays an imagewhich does not relate directly to the game (a description of the game,for example), in such a manner that the image displayed thereon changesin accordance with the operational contents. The lower side imagedisplay panel 44 is located in a substantially central position in thevertical direction of the frame 42, and is constituted by a liquidcrystal display device (not illustrated), in such a manner that a gameimage comprising reel images is displayed.

The slot machine 41 also comprises a control panel 45 comprising anarrangement of a plurality of operating buttons whereby the player canperform prescribed operations, on the lower part of the lower side imagedisplay panel 44, and a coin inlet 47 for introducing gaming media(hereinafter, called “coins”) used in playing a game, such as medals,money coins, or the like, and a banknote inlet 48 having a banknoteinput sensor 48 a (see FIG. 3) which outputs a signal indicating inputof a banknote, provided in order that a player can introduce banknotes,are disposed on the right-hand side of the control panel 45.Furthermore, the slot machine 41 has at the base of the frame 42 a coinpay-out opening 50, and a coin receiving section 51 which collects coinsthat have been paid out, and furthermore, speakers 49L and 49R areprovided respectively on the left and right-hand sides of the pay-outopening 50.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of a slot machine 41 focusing on the internalconstitution of same. The slot machine 41 incorporates the motherboard20 and the gaming board 10 constituting the gaming informationauthenticating and loading device 1 described above. The slot machine 41also has a plurality of constituent elements constituting the gamingoperation execution device of the present invention which executesgaming operations. The motherboard 20 comprises, in addition to the mainCPU 21, ROM 22, RAM 23 and I/O port 24 described above, a random numbergenerator 35, a sampling circuit 36, a clock pulse generator circuit 37,and a frequency divider 38. The random number generator 35 operates inaccordance with instructions from the main CPU 21, and generates arandom number within a prescribed range. The sampling circuit 36 samplesa random number from the group of random numbers generated by the randomnumber generator 35, in accordance with an instruction from the main CPU21, and the random number generator 35 inputs the sampled random numberto the main CPU 21. The clock pulse generator circuit 37 generates areference clock for operating the main CPU 21, and the frequency divider38 inputs a signal obtained by dividing the reference clock at aprescribed frequency, to the main CPU 21.

Moreover, the slot machine 41 comprises, as the aforementioned gamingoperation execution devices, a lamp drive circuit 59, a lamp 60, an LEDdrive circuit 61, an LED 62, a hopper drive circuit 63, a hopper 64, apay-out completion signal circuit 65, a coin detector unit 66, an imagecontrol circuit 71 and an audio control circuit 72. The elements fromthe lamp drive circuit 59 until the audio control circuit 72 constitutea group of gaming operation execution devices.

The lamp drive circuit 59 outputs a signal to the lamp 60 for causingthe lamp 60 to light up and switching the lamp 60 on and off during thegame. By means of this switching on and off, a game performance iscreated. The LED drive circuit 61 controls the on and off display of theLED 62. The LED 62 creates a number of credits display, a winningdisplay, and the like. The hopper drive circuit 63 drives the hopper 64in accordance with control implemented by the main CPU 21. The hopper 64performs an operation for paying out coins that have been won as aprize, and pays out coins from the pay-out opening 50 into the coinreceiving section 51. The coin detector unit 66 counts up the number ofcoins that have been paid out by the hopper 64, and data on the numberthus counted is sent to the pay-out completion signal circuit 65. Thepay-out completion signal circuit 65 inputs the number-of-coins datafrom the coin detector unit 66, and when this number of coins reaches aspecified number of coins data, then the circuit 65 inputs a signalreporting the completion of coin pay-out to the main CPU 21.

The image control circuit 71 controls the respective image displays onthe upper side image display panel 43 and the lower side image displaypanel 44. The image control circuit 71 displays various images, such asvariable display images of a plurality of pictures, or the like.

The audio control circuit 72 inputs a sound signal from a sound sourceIC, amplifies the input sound signal and outputs sound from the speakers49L and 49R. Thereby, sounds for raising the atmosphere of the game atsuitable moments after the start of the game, for example, are outputfrom the speakers 49L and 49R.

The image control circuit 71 and the audio control circuit 72 store animage control program and an audio control program in the ROM 22, andthey can be incorporated into the motherboard 20 by executing theprocessing according to the respective programs, by means of the CPU 21.

Furthermore, the power supply unit 39 is connected to the otherconstituent elements, as well as the motherboard 20, but in FIG. 3, inorder to simplify the diagram, the connections between the power sourceunit 39 and the constituent elements other than the motherboard 20 areomitted.

(Operation of Gaming Information Authenticating and Loading Device andSlot Machine)

Next, the details of the operation of the gaming informationauthenticating and loading device 1, and the slot machine 41, having theconstitution described above, are explained with reference to FIG. 1,and FIG. 4 and FIG. 5.

Here, FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing the procedure of a gaminginformation authenticating and loading process in the gaming informationauthenticating and loading device 1. FIG. 5 is a chart showing theprocedure of an authenticating and loading process for gaminginformation performed by the gaming board 10 and the motherboard 20. InFIG. 5, “step” is abbreviated to “S”.

In the gaming information authenticating and loading device 1 and theslot machine 41, during the authenticating and loading processing forgaming information, firstly, the power supply switch in the power sourceunit 39 is switched on (the power source is switched on), as shown inFIG. 5, and the motherboard 20 and the gaming board 10 are started up(Step 1-1, Step 2-1). In a substantially simultaneous fashion with theswitching on of the power supply switch, the memory card 30 is insertedinto the card slot 12 in the gaming board 10.

When the motherboard 20 and the gaming board 10 are started up, theirindependent processes are carried out respectively, in parallel fashion.Specifically, in the gaming board 10, the CPU 17 reads out thepreliminary authentication program 11 b stored in the boot ROM 11. Inaccordance with the preliminary authentication program 11 b thus readout, the CPU 17 operates as the first processor, and performspreliminary authentication f4 (see FIG. 4) for checking and verifying inadvance that the authentication program 11 a has not been manipulated,before the authentication program 11 a is read into the motherboard 20(Step 2-2).

On the other hand, in the motherboard 20, the main CPU 21 executes theBIOS 22 a and develops the compressed data included in the BIOS 22 ainto the RAM 23 (Step 1-2). When the main CPU 21 advances to Step 1-3,the main CPU 21 executes the BIOS 22 a developed into the RAM 23 andthen carries out diagnosis and initialization of the various peripheraldevices. In this case, the main CPU 21 carries out a check to see whatdevices are connected to the PCI bus 31. Here, since the boot ROM 11 ofthe gaming board 10 is connected to the PCI bus 31, the main CPU 21advances to step S1-4 and operates as the reading unit of the presentinvention, by reading out the authentication program 11 a stored in theboot ROM 11.

Furthermore, when the authentication program 11 a is read out, the mainCPU 21 carries out a loading process r1 for storing the authenticationprogram 11 a into the RAM 23. In this loading process r1, in accordancewith the functions of the standard BIOS in the BIOS 22 a, the main CPU21 takes the check sum acquired by an ADDSUM method (standard checkfunction), and the main CPU 21 stores the authentication program 11 a inthe RAM 23, while carrying out a confirmation process f1 (see FIG. 4) tosee whether or not storage has been completed without any errors.

Next, the main CPU 21 advances to Step 1-5, where the main CPU 21confirms what devices are connected to the IDE bus 32, and then accessesthe memory card 30 inserted into the card slot 12, by means of the IDEbus 32. The main CPU 21 then operates as the reading unit of the presentinvention, and reads out gaming information (in other words, a gameprogram 30 a and a game system program 30 b) from the memory card 30. Inthis case, the main CPU 21 reads out 4 bytes of data constituting thegaming information at a time. Continuously, the main CPU 21 operates asthe second processor of the present invention, in accordance with theauthentication program 11 a stored in the RAM 23. Then, the main CPU 21performs an authentication process f2 with respect to the read-out gamesystem program 30 b, and an authentication process f3 with respect tothe game program 30 a. Thereby, the CPU 21 checks and verifies that thegame program 30 a and the game system program 30 b have not beenmanipulated. When these authentication processes f2 and f3 completenormally, the main CPU 21 advances to Step 1-6, where the main CPU 21operates as the writing unit of the present invention, and carries out aloading process r2 for the game system program 30 b which was the objectof the authentication process (namely, which has been authenticated),and a loading process r3 for the game program 30 a. Thereby, the gameprogram 30 a and the game system program 30 b are written to and storedon the RAM 23.

Although not shown in the drawings, if an abnormality occurs during theauthentication process for some reasons, for instance, if the gamesystem program 30 b has been manipulated, and the authentication processhas not been completed normally, then the main CPU 21 reports theoccurrence of an abnormality, for instance, by issuing an error displayon the upper-side image display panel 43, whereupon the authenticationprocess is halted. In this case, the loading process is not carried out.In other words, the game program 30 a and the game system program 30 bare introduced into the motherboard 20 only when they have beenauthenticated.

In this way, the authenticating and loading process is completed by theprocessing in Steps 2-1 to 2-2 performed by the CPU 17, and Steps 1-1 to1-6 performed by the main CPU 21, and the processing by the gaminginformation authenticating and loading device 1 is also completed.

Continuously, in the slot machine 41, the main CPU 21 advances to Step1-7, where the main CPU 21 operates as the operation control unit andimplements control in such a manner that the respective gaming operationexecution devices carry out gaming operations, in accordance with the:game program 30 a and the game system program 30 b stored in the RAM 23.Thereby, the plurality of constituent elements for gaming operationexecution devices which constitute a group of gaming operation executiondevices perform respective gaming operations. For example, the imagecontrol circuit 71 displays gaming information used in playing a game,such as simulated reels, on the lower-side image display panel 44, andfurthermore, the lamp drive circuit 59 lights up the lamp 60, or thelike, principally in order to create a game effect, in accordance withthe progress of the game. Moreover, the hopper drive circuit 63 operatesthe hopper 64 in accordance with the game winnings result, and thus paysout coins. The player is able to play a slot game by observing thesimulated reels.

In this way, in a slot machine 41, the gaming operation executiondevices carry out gaming operations in accordance with the game program30 a and the game system program 30 b supplied by means of the memorycard 30 and stored in the RAM 23 after the programs 30 a and 30 b areauthenticated. Thereby, the player is able to play a slot game.

As described above, in the gaming information authenticating and loadingdevice 1 and the slot machine 41, since the gaming board 10 is connectedto a generic motherboard 20, then by inserting the memory card 30storing gaming information into the card slot 12 of the gaming board 10,the stored gaming information can be read out and stored in the RAM 23of the motherboard 20.

Moreover, since the authentication program 11 a which states a procedurefor authenticating the gaming information is stored in the boot ROM 11of the gaming board 10, then when the gaming information is loaded, anauthentication process is performed in accordance with theauthentication program 11 a, and it is checked and verified that thegaming information has not been manipulated. Consequently, in theauthenticating and loading device 1 and the slot machine 41, even ifgaming information 30 a and 30 b is supplied from a source that isexternal to the slot machine 41, it is certain that the gaminginformation 30 a and 30 b thus loaded is legitimate gaming informationwhich has not been manipulated. Therefore, illegal actions relating tothe actual gaming information are reliably prevented.

Moreover, preliminary authentication f4 is carried out with respect tothe authentication program 11 a used to perform authentication of thegame program 30 a and the game system program 30 b, before it is read into the motherboard 20. That is, before the motherboard 20 loads theauthentication program 11 a, the preliminary authentication f4 iscarried out in addition to a check sum by means of a standard BIOS.Therefore, it is confirmed that the authentication program 11 a is alegitimate program which has not been manipulated, and the reliabilityof this authentication program 11 a is improved. As a result, it ispossible to authenticate the gaming information 30 a and 30 b stored onthe memory card 30 with a greater degree of reliability. Furthermore,the preliminary authentication program 11 b, which carries outpreliminary authentication f4, is stored in a non-rewritable fashion, inthe boot ROM 11.

Moreover, in the gaming information authenticating and loading device 1and the slot machine 41, since the motherboard 20 is constituted by acommercially available generic motherboard, the motherboard 20 hashighly generic characteristics and, consequently, it is possible toreduce manufacturing costs.

In the foregoing description, a game program 30 a and a game systemprogram 30 b for a slot game are loaded, but instead of this, it is alsopossible to load a separate game program 30 a and a game system program30 b for another game. In this case, the slot machine 41 becomes a gamemachine (for instance, a card game machine) which implements anothergame (for example, a card game which displays card images of trumpcards).

Instead of the procedure of the gaming information authenticating andloading process performed by the gaming board 10 and the motherboard 20described above, it is also possible to adopt a procedure such as thatshown in FIG. 6 and FIG. 7. Specifically, the procedure of the gaminginformation authenticating and loading process shown in FIG. 6 and FIG.7 is different from the aforementioned procedure in that reset controlof the main CPU 21 is carried out, when the CPU 17 performsauthentication of the authentication program 11 a.

More specifically, similarly to the procedure of the authenticating andloading process for gaming information described above, the power supplyswitch on the power source unit 39 is switched on (the power supply isswitched on), and the motherboard 20 and the gaming board 10 are startedup (Step 1-1, Step 2-1). Thereby, in the gaming board 10, the CPU 17advances to Step 2-10, and a reset signal output process P1 (see FIG. 6)is performed by the main CPU 21, via the PCI bus 31. By carrying out thereset control output process P1, the main CPU 21 is held in a resetstate and the readout process of the authentication program 11 a and thegaming information 30 a and 30 b is not executed, until there is anoutput process P2 of the reset release signal (authentication completionsignal) at the subsequent step, Step 2-11. Thereupon, the CPU 17advances to Step 2-2 to perform readout of the preliminaryauthentication program 11 b stored in the boot ROM 11, and carries outpreliminary authentication f4 in accordance with the preliminaryauthentication program 11 b. When the preliminary authentication f4 iscompleted normally, the procedure advances to Step 2-11, and the CPU 17performs a reset release signal output process P2 (see FIG. 6), therebyreleasing the reset state of the main CPU 21.

As described above, by adopting reset control using a reset signal and areset release signal, the readout of the authentication program 11 a bythe main CPU 21 in the motherboard 20 is suspended, until thepreliminary authentication f4 by the CPU 17 on the gaming board 10 hasbeen completed. Therefore, it is possible reliably to avoid a situationwhere the main CPU 21 reads out the authentication program 11 a beforethe preliminary authentication f4 by the CPU 17 has been completed.Furthermore, by adopting reset control of this kind, it is possible toavoid a situation in which the CPU 17 and the main CPU 21 access the PCIbus 31 at the same timing, thus causing a conflict of signals, withoutusing separate means, such as a bus switching device.

However, in general, the execution time of the BIOS 22 a by the main CPU21 (the sequence of processing from Step 1-2 to Step 1-3) issignificantly longer than the processing time of the preliminaryauthentication f4 (Step 2-2) by the CPU 17. Therefore, it is desirablethat the CPU 17 and the main CPU 21 should be carried out in parallelwithout adopting reset control, as shown in FIG. 5, from the viewpointof being able to shorten the time period until the gaming information isexecuted at Step 1-7.

In an embodiment where the CPU 17 and the main CPU 21 carry outprocessing in parallel, it is also possible to avoid situations wherethe main CPU 21 reads out an authentication program 11 a before thepreliminary authentication f4 by the CPU 17 has been completed, by amethod other than reset control. Specifically, a prescribed storageregion (for example, a register or memory) for confirming the completionof the preliminary authentication f4 is provided previously in eitherthe gaming board 10 or the motherboard 20. When the preliminaryauthentication f4 has completed, the CPU 17 rewrites the contents of theprescribed storage region, and by means of the main CPU 21 monitoringthis rewriting process, the main CPU 21 is able to determine thecompletion of the preliminary authentication f4 by the CPU 17. Afterdetermining that the preliminary authentication f4 has been completed,the main CPU 21 performs readout of the authentication program 11 a,thereby preventing situations in which the main CPU 21 reads out theauthentication program 11 a before the preliminary authentication f4 bythe CPU 17 has been completed. At the same time, it is also possible toavoid situations in which the CPU 17 and the main CPU 21 access the PCIbus 31 simultaneously, thus producing signal conflicts, without havingto use separate means, such as a bus switching device.

In the aforementioned embodiments, a slot machine 41 which performs aslot game is described as an example of a gaming machine, but thepresent invention may also be applied to gaming machines which implementother types of games. For example, the present invention may also beapplied to a card game machine which implements a card game using cardimages showing trump cards, a Mahjong game machine which implements aMahjong game, or a Pachinko game machine which uses game balls.Furthermore, in the case of a slot machine, the machine is not limitedto being a video slot machine such as the slot machine 41, but may alsobe a rotating cylinder type of slot machine which has mechanical reels.In this case, the mechanical reels constitute the gaming operationexecution device of the present invention.

In the embodiments described above, the gaming information isconstituted by two types of programs, namely, a game program and a gamesystem program, but the gaming information may also be modifiedappropriately to gaming information constituted by one type of program,or three or more types of program. Furthermore, a state is shown inwhich both the authentication program 11 a and the preliminaryauthentication program 11 b are stored in the boot ROM 11; however, itis also possible to provide a plurality of ROMs and RAMs in the gamingboard 10, and to store the authentication program 11 a and thepreliminary authentication program 11 b in separate ROMs and RAMs.

1. A gaming machine comprising: a gaming operation execution deviceexecuting gaming operations for playing a game; a loading deviceincluding a connector for connecting a storage medium which storesgaming information to be used in playing the game, a first programmemory part for storing a first authentication program forauthenticating the gaming information stored in the storage mediumconnected to the connector, a second program memory part for storing asecond authentication program for authenticating the firstauthentication program stored in the first program memory part, and afirst processor for authenticating the first authentication program withthe second authentication program stored in the second program memorypart; and a processing device connected to the loading device, includinga readable and writable memory, a reading unit for reading out thegaming information from the storage medium connected to the connector ofthe loading device and for reading out the first authentication programauthenticated by the first processor from the first program memory part,a second processor for authenticating the gaming information read out bythe reading unit with the first authentication program read out by thereading unit, a writing unit for writing the gaming informationauthenticated by the second processor to the readable and writablememory, and an operation control unit for controlling the gamingoperation execution device in accordance with the gaming informationwritten to the readable and writable memory by the writing unit.
 2. Thegaming machine according to claim 1, wherein the first processor of theloading device sends an authentication completion signal to the readingunit of the processing device when completing authentication of thefirst authentication program, and the reading unit suspends readout ofthe first authentication program until receiving the authenticationcompletion signal from the first processor.
 3. The gaming machineaccording to claim 1, wherein the reading unit performs readout of thefirst authentication program after detecting completion ofauthentication of the first authentication program by the firstprocessor.
 4. A gaming information authenticating and loading devicecomprising: a loading device including a connector for connecting astorage medium which stores gaming information to be used in playing thegame, a first program memory part for storing a first authenticationprogram for authenticating the gaming information stored in the storagemedium connected to the connector, a second program memory part forstoring a second authentication program for authenticating the firstauthentication program stored in the first program memory part, and afirst processor for authenticating the first authentication program withthe second authentication program stored in the second program memorypart; and a processing device connected to the loading device, includinga readable and writable memory, a reading unit for reading out thegaming information from the storage medium connected to the connector ofthe loading device and for reading out the first authentication programauthenticated by the first processor from the first program memory part,a second processor for authenticating the gaming information read out bythe reading unit with the first authentication program read out by thereading unit, a writing unit for writing the gaming informationauthenticated by the second processor to the readable and writablememory.
 5. The gaming information authenticating and loading, deviceaccording to claim 4, wherein the first processor of the loading devicesends an authentication completion signal to the reading unit of theprocessing device when completing authentication of the firstauthentication program, and the reading unit suspends readout of thefirst authentication program until receiving the authenticationcompletion signal from the first processor.
 6. The gaming informationauthenticating and loading device according to claim 4, wherein thereading unit performs readout of the first authentication program afterdetecting completion of authentication of the first authenticationprogram by the first processor.
 7. A gaming information loading devicefor loading stored gaming information to be used in playing a game froma storage medium and for sending the gaming information into a connectedmotherboard, said gaming information loading device comprising: aconnector for connecting a storage medium which stores gaminginformation to be used in playing the game; a first program memory partfor storing a first authentication program for authenticating the gaminginformation stored in the storage medium connected to the connector; asecond program memory part for storing a second authentication programfor authenticating the first authentication program stored in the firstprogram memory part; and a first processor for authenticating the firstauthentication program with the second authentication program stored inthe second program memory part.